The Hour of the Crow

Chapter 24: Trials of Erudition

Arran slammed his hand flat against the mirror. "Come back!"

The mirror remained blank. A dense, gray fog filled its surface, just as out of reach as the door through which they were supposed to leave this room. Inna turned back to Zazi, looking for a clue in her yellow eyes. "Please tell me you know how to get out of here as well."

Zazi blinked. This trial was not designed for me.

Inna supposed it wasn't. Magic prickled the back of her neck; the entire room was imbued with it. An illusion, devised to trap them here. All of this was happening inside their heads, much like the Sphere of Truth's visions. Except that this time, they merely had their own wits to work with.

She suspected the solution was simple, if only they found it before they died of thirst or hunger. The carpet and duffel bag had not traveled to this place with them. Time still dragged on outside of this imaginary room, so their bodies would need sustenance sooner or later.

"Magi ilwah," Arran muttered, resting his forehead against the mirror. "This nightmare never ends."

Inna walked to the mirror with the door and traced its outline with her finger. The glass was cool and impassable. Not once did she catch a glimpse of her own reflection in it. She moved the flame in her hand this way and that, encircled the mirror's frame with it, but still the image didn't change.

It was as if the mirror bent the light in impossible ways, reflecting that which was invisible to the naked eye.

Her eyes widened. "Arran!"

"Habi Onshra, Inna, don't startle me like that." When she turned around, he met her gaze with wary eyes. "What is it? Don't tell me you've figured it out already."

"In fact, you should have," she countered, planting her hands on her hips. "Tell me, what's a mirror's most basic function?"

He scrunched his brow, as though he tried to determine whether she had gone insane. "To reflect."

"Reflect what?"

His frown deepened. "The light."

"And what is your main magical skill?" She bared her teeth into a wide, triumphant grin. "With that ability of yours, have you ever used a mirror to fool someone? A guard in one of the houses you robbed, or your mother with the rolling pin?"

He chuckled at those last words. "I can make myself invisible while still seeing my reflection in a mirror, if that's what you mean. I just don't understand how that's supposed to help us get to that door. I can't transport myself into that mirror without a reflection to guide me. And as you can see"—he waved a hand in front of the glass surface—"there's nothing."

She dismissed his protests with a gesture of her hand. "No, listen. That rune Zazi traced with her tail? It conjured an illusion to test us, which means it has been adapted to our abilities. I think the principle of these mirrors is the same as your magic: to bend light. If I'm right, you should be able to unravel the bends they made and undo them, so that we can reveal the location of this door inside this realm. Maybe the door is not inside the mirror, but we are. Do you understand?"

He raked his fingers through his dark hair. "I guess. It's worth a try."

He rubbed his hands together. Fascinated despite the urgency of their situation, she looked past the Vahja to track what he was doing. His aura moved around him in swirling orange and black, truly a tiger's motive now. He steered it toward the mirror, where it tapped the glass with prying tentacles, searching for the magical energy it harbored. Inna wasn't surprised to see that the mirror's energy was the twin of Arran's aura and that both forces of magic intertwined.